Midnight Snarks (Lux)

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack was a creature of habit even if those habits managed to evolve over ever so slightly over the years. For example; when Jack first arrived at Bellefonte Academy and by extension America. He was a typical nervous mess to the point where he would actively avoid people by any means necessary….and that more often than not meant sneaking into the kitchen when no one was around like an oversized rodent and gnawed away at any food at all before slinking away to his bed like a thief in the night. The perfect crime.


….But that was about four years ago and ever since then Jack had matured since the first days of his school experience….




….NOW Jack just sneaks the food back to his room and not due to any sense of nerves around people or anything like that, (Now, Jack had essentially no shame whatsoever ) but he’s moved on from the mentality of a rat, to the mentality of a fluffy little squirrel hoarding it’s nuts through winter. Except instead of nuts Jack just stole candy bars, chips and salty snacks and hid them in his cupboard in case the zombie's invasions come for her, or a fire breaks out and Jack was stuck living in this room for the rest of his days….


Or in case he was hungry, that works too…


So Jack sat outside the door to his room looking with pride at the large candy bar under his arm that’ll be sure to be a welcome addition to his ever increasing candy family, blissfully unaware of anything or anyone that might be creeping his way

[Luxanna Cross]

Luxanna often considered herself a good person. Now, that didn't mean everything she ever did was good. Because what she was planning right now was anything but, and yet, she was excited. Giggling to herself like a little child who couldn't control herself.

She peeked around the corner. She'd already made the transformation. She already knew he'd be there. After all their years of friendship, Luxanna had learned a thing or two and she'd picked the perfect form to do it with too. Because of the darkness, she'd transformed into a sleek, black panther.

Sneaking forward, trying to be as quiet as she possibly could be, the brunette used the shadows to further cover her dark, slender form. She grew closer by the second, simply waiting for the boy to catch on. But he never did. He was too focused on his snacks to even hear her coming.

And once she was close enough, Luxanna let out a growl.

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack was what you would call a problem child, a phrase which here means “A child with a veritable bevvy of issues” Loud. Brash. Impossibly annoying …and at times his ever so slightly one-dimensional personality (Cough) But chief among his many...MANY flaws is his massive unshakable phobia of cats of all shapes and sizes (Or if you prefer an acute case of Ailurophobia ) Of course, to most rational people, the idea of having nightmares revolving around cute little purring balls of fluff that are all together for the most part docile and passive for anything not revolving around milk or balls of yarn, is just down right silly.

But whenever he was around something even remotely feline, the effect it had on him was quite simply miraculous. His face drained of all colour sweat begins to collect on his forehead and his hands shook to and fro like they were vibrating. As any shrink could tell you these symptoms didn’t suggest a mild discomfort or anything like that, no this was a full blown phobia caused by some kind of acute trauma.


So you can imagine the reaction Jack got when he heard that growl. And turned around to face his nightmare.

Staring down the panther, Jack momentarily forgot his best friend was a feline shapeshifter and that the likelihood of a black panther which was indigenousness in African jungles somehow finding itself to an American college. The part of his brain that dealt with reason was choked out by fear. So it instead he could only make a strange high pitched squealing sound. Terrified Jack leapt to his feet backing off from his foot

“Ok, ok ok. You can take them. J-Ju--

There goes the stutter...Come on Jack, force the words out

“Just take it ok? it s yours. I don’t want no trouble”

[Luxanna Cross]

Luxanna almost felt bad for Jack. And she would have, hadn't she known he'd forgive her and laugh about this later. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd actually hurt him. As the boy started stuttering and having a near panic attack, Luxanna in her panther form, sat down next to the boy and lifted her paw. She pressed the paw against the boy's shoulder and gave him a light bump.

Considering how she couldn't speak, she wanted to do something that'd tell the boy this clearly wasn't natural panther behavior. Besides, given that Jack knew her power, she didn't fully understand how he hadn't caught on yet.

Still, Luxanna remained still. Watching the boy with her green eyes while her tail was swinging to the side, back and forth, back and forth.

[Jack McCarthy]

Yes, Jack after spending more time with Luxanna more than anyone else (And wow does she deserve a medal for that) Jack should by all logic know full well the one lone reason why there ever should be a majestic panther roaming the halls of the school….especially after seeing the exact same panther in front of him time and time again, but fear did funny things to Jack McCarthy, it choked all logic and reason out of it till it was lost in a thick cloud of primal fear….

Jack recoiled slightly in mild disgust once the large cat sat down, making a mild and quiet whining sound when a claw almost the size of his face gently batted him causing his breath to slowly become more and more ragged in terror expecting the claws to suddently start-

Waiiiit a minute….

….Didn’t this exact same thing happen, like a few weeks ago?

Jack’s eyes suddenly narrowed towards the big cat not nearly as nervous as he once was, wagging his fore and ring finger towards it in typical flailing manner




“Lu-Lux?! Is that....Aw son of a...Ok fool me once shame on me...Fool me...12 times….shame on….ummm…...Is it me? I think the same is on me? Is it on me?”

[Luxanna Cross]

When it finally dawned upon the boy sitting in front of her, Luxanna laughed - though, in reality, coming from the mouth of a panther, it was more a huffing sound rather than actual laughter. She remained docile, though, sitting perfectly still while waiting for Jack to collect his thoughts and calm down.

It wasn't like she could shift back right now anyways, because for one, she didn't want to end up naked in the hallway and two, Jack would likely freak out even more and throw a fit if anyone were to see her in such a position.

He was rather protective, she realized.

Instead, Luxanna stretched her back and moved so that she could sit beside Jack, with her back leaned against the same wall as him. Her green eyes stared off into the darkness of the hallway and she yawned.

[Jack McCarthy]

Well, now Jack just felt like an idiot….which is an achievement all in itself considering Jack had little to no shame in everything he did, but there were rare moments where even he could feel the sting of shame, just to remind him and the rest of the population of the school is not just some inane cartoon character but an actual person capable of actual human feelings.


...Sometimes even Jack forgot that….


So Jack, instantly started to calm down . his body language relaxing as she began to breathe openly through his mouth deep lung fulls of air to steady his breathing, clutching at his chest dramatically just waiting for his heart to stop drumming in his chest…


Of course, he’d forgive Lux. He does every time this happened after all simply because...well….that was just how it went, Lux could stab him square in the kidney and in some way or another Jack would find it in his heart to forgive her….


Even if she had the ability to personify every fear he would ever have…


That put a slight damper on their relationship admittedly….


..But Jack tried to avoid mentioning his obvious discomfort about felines….He knew it was Lux/ He knew that he was in no danger whatsoever of being clawed and yet...and yet and yet, Jack couldn’t help but flinch once Lux took her place right behind him causing him to run his fingers through his hair and nibble his candy nervously in silent for a few moments “...I never know what to say when you’re like….this” Jack said idly gesturing to the proud panther sitting behind him “....It’s still...You in there right...You’re not like….in cat mode right? You don’t like to lick yourself or play with string….If I had a bag of catnip what would happen?”


Jack seemed to have forgotten that giant felines can’t speak